


Those Dreams (Papyrus POV)

by Ciala



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Brother Love, Brotherly Fluff, Flowey has control over timelines, Fluff, Gen, Night Terrors, Papyrus and Sans relationship in the relationship section is just sibling relationship, Worry, before Frisk, messed up emotions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2018-05-07 15:31:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5461748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ciala/pseuds/Ciala
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sans has been having night terrors and nightmares, and Papyrus is determined to help him! But can he? And can Sans get better? Or is the whole situation out of their control, and only bound to get worse?</p><p>----<br/>Writer’s note:Got inspired by  @thelostmoongazer‘s Night Terror comic. I wanted to write about night terrors from both Sans and Papyrus views. </p><p>Sans Version is called: These Dreams</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Cry in the Darkness

**Author's Note:**

> Writer’s note:Got inspired by @thelostmoongazer‘s Night Terror comic. I wanted to write about night terrors from both Sans and Papyrus views. 
> 
> Sans Version is called: These Dreams
> 
> I'm also on Tumblr:  
> http://ciara-clycone.tumblr.com/

“And the winner of the best spaghetti of the Underground is Papyrus!” Mettaton rolls over to Papyrus and hands him a giant gold trophy. “Everyone give him around of applause!”

The audience in the room goes wild. Their claps and cheers thunders all around Papyrus. At first he’s thrilled, but then the room shakes from the vibrations of all noise. Pieces of the ceiling crack and fall to the ground with loud booms. A beam falls from above heading right for him… 

Papyrus’s eyes fly open, and gasps for breath. He looks around and realizes he’s safe in his room. He breathes out a sigh of relief. It was just a dream. As he turns to go back to sleep, he hears a loud crash coming from his brother’s room. 

_What in the world is Sans doing in there?_ He wonders. _Any why isn’t he be asleep by now? Sleep is one of Sans’s favorite things to do._

He gets up to check on his brother. As he walks out his door, he hears something that fills his heart with dread. 

“No!” Sans’s cries out from his room.

Papyrus dashes into his brother’s room. “Sans! What’s-” At the sight of his brother, his words drop dead at his feet.

On his bed, Sans lies in his bed, sweat dripping from his brow. His eyes are closed tight, and he’s moving his legs as if he’s running. Blue energy crackles and whips all around him.

Papyrus tentatively moves toward Sans. “Sans…?”

Sans jerks around on his bed. ”Noooooooo! Nooooo!“ Tears start to form in Sans’s closed eyes.

"Sans!” Papyrus rushes over to him. “Sans, what’s wrong?!”

At the sound of Papyrus’s voice, the blue energy around Sans dies down it’s now fading glow and not a small electrical storm. But while the energy is more relaxed, Sans himself is not. He thrashes around in bed.

Papyrus tries to grab him to calm him down. But Sans’s leg thrusts out of the sheets and catches Papyrus in the chest. He staggers backwards and falls on the the floor.

Sitting up, Papyrus winces a bit. While the kick didn’t do much damage to him, it still did hurt a lot.

 _Well, at least his attacks have some oomph to them,_ Papyrus thinks as he rubs his chest.

“Papyrus!” Sans’s distraught voice shatters Papyrus’s thoughts and heart.

Ignoring his pain, Papyrus jumps to his feet and dashes over to his brother. _I have to get to him, to calm him down! Once he sees me, he’ll know everything is alright._

As he’s about to reach out to his brother, Sans sits up right in bed.

Tears stream down his face, and he reaches out his hands. “Papyrus!”

Papyrus grabs his hands, and gives them a reassuring squeeze. “Sans!”

“Nooo…” Sans moans, shuddering.

“Sans, it’s alright! I’m right here!”

“Papyrus, no!” Complete misery resonates in Sans voice. It kills Papyrus to hear his brother like this. “No!”

“Sans! Sans! I’m right here!” He looks Sans in the eyes, and his heart nearly drops.

Despite one of Sans’s eyes glowing blue, both eyes are glazed over. They look right through Papyrus, as if he doesn’t exist at all.

 _I thought for sure…I thought for sure that once I reached him that he would hear me and be ok…_ Tears trickle down from Papyrus’s face. _What do I do now?_

Sans whole body shakes from his sobs. He doesn't speak anymore, he just utters low guttural moans.

Seeing his brother like this, tears Papyrus heart apart. “Sans…” Papyrus chokes back his tears. “Sans, look at me! Please! I’m right here!” Papyrus puts a hand to his brother’s face, hoping that it will trigger some response from him.

Sans jerks back in panic. He flails his arms and legs around. Another kick hits Papyrus in the leg, but he ignores it and wraps his arms around his brother.

“Sans! Sans! Calm down! It’s alright! I’m not going to hurt you, brother!”

“Papyrus…” Sans breaks down. “I’m sorry…”

“Sans, it’s ok! It’s ok!” Papyrus assured his brother.

He isn’t really sure what his brother means by that. Does he mean kicking him while he was out of it? Or something else? It didn’t matter! What matters is Sans! Everything else can be worked out later!

Sans’s body relaxes, and his head rolls to the side.

“Sans?” Papyrus whispers, his voice quivering. “Sans?! Can you hear me?”

Sans doesn’t respond.

Papyrus starts to panic. _What is wrong with him!? Is he seriously ill? What if he is…?_ The thought of that last one is too much. 

Papyrus clutches his brother tighter to himself and just breaks down. “Please, say something! Sans!” His body shudders from his sobs. “Sans! Please, wake up!”

_What if he never does? What if he turns to…_

“Sans…” Papyrus softly cries. 

“P…Papyrus…?” A low and raspy voice softly calls out his name.

_Sans! He’s alright! Right? He has to be!_

Papyrus lets out a sigh of relief, and he sits him up in bed a bit. “Sans…Thank Goodness…”

“Wha…?” Sans’s eyes open a little. He looks around nervously, his gaze going right past his brother. “Papyrus, are you there?”

Fear pricks at Papyrus’s heart. _He can’t see me? Why can’t he see me? What’s wrong with him? What if something happened and he’s blind? Wait, wait…calm down… __Papyrus took in a deep breaths. _Keep calm for Sans. He needs support right now.__

“Yes! I’m right here, brother!” Papyrus says, trying to keep himself from crying any further. He manages to choke back whole sobs, but tears still flow down his cheekbones. He hugs his brother reassuringly.

Sans turns his face toward his brother. Happiness show in his tired eyes.

“Thank goodness…” Sans voice is flooded with relief. His eyes slowly closes, and within moments he’s out.

Papyrus starts to panic again, but once he sees that Sans is just sleeping, his anxiety settles down. He puts Sans down on his bed and covers him with a blanket, and hovers close to Sans for a while, watching him sleep.

 _What’s going on with him? Papyrus wonders. What can I do to help him? Should I go and find someone while he’s sleeping?_ He steps toward the hall, and stops. _But what if he has another episode? What if he needs me and I’m not here for him?_ He looks at Sans, and he knows what to do. He sits down on the floor besides the bed and leads against it. _I’ll wait a while in here just to be sure that he’s going to be alright._


	2. Concern

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus is concerned about his brother, does some research, and then goes for a quick patrol to help get rid of some of the stress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, all! Hope you enjoy this little chapter of concern and fluff.
> 
> Feel free to comment and kudo! I feed on it as does my creativity(it helps me to write more)!

After several hours pass, Papyrus finally stirs from his brother’s side. He gets up and silently stretches, all the while keeping an eye on his slumbering sibling.

Sans is sleeping peacefully on the bed with no sign of the terrors that had previously haunted him.

Papyrus smiles. _That’s good. He needs his rest after what happened._ Memories flood his mind of how his brother cried out in terror, quaking in fear. His smile melts into a frown. _What should I do about what happened? Should I call Undyne about Sans?_ He instantly decides against it.

She’s a great instructor and friend, but he just can’t see her giving out any helpful advice about what’s going on with his brother.

But there is one other option.

He shuffles over the computer, and sits down in the chair. He brings up a search engine and types in the words: “nightmares”, “screaming” and “sitting up in bed”.

The computer processes this for a bit, and brings up some websites which talk about ‘Night Terrors’.

Papyrus clicks on one link and garners its information quickly. He does this for several more websites until he is satisfied with his research.

They all seem to agree on the same thing things. Suffer’s from night terrors are sleeping during the episodes. They may have high heart rates, cry out in panic, sweat a lot, sit up and scream.

_That was definitely Sans…_

During their attacks, don’t try to wake them up. Don’t touch them. Don’t yell at them.

 _But I did that….does that hurt Sans’s chance of recovering from the terrors? Would it worsen their dreams and make their panic even worse?_ He shudders at the thought, and desperately hopes that it isn’t so. He decides to keep reading to get his mind off of those questions.

Do give them comforting reassurances and sounds.

_At least I got that one right._

The sufferers usually don’t remember their dreams. Don’t ask them about it, it may embarrass them.

_Well, that one is troubling. How am I supposed to help Sans if he doesn’t remember the dreams? And even if he does remember, I can’t ask about them? What am I supposed to do then? Wait…maybe there are causes…maybe I can fix those…Then Sans will get better!_

He looks at the list of causes: Fever, medications…

_Nope._

Sleep deprivation.

 _That couldn’t be it. He sleeps a lot. But maybe he sleeps because of his regular sleep getting interrupted? Then that would mean, he would have had other night terrors before the one that I saw…ones that I’m not aware of…_ Papyrus frowns at the idea. He doesn’t like the thought of Sans suffering and of him not being aware of it. Having to suffer alone…how horrible…

He goes to the last option:

Stressful life events.

He stops a bit to think. _There’s nothing stressful in our lives right? We have a nice home, jobs, each other…._ As Papyrus pauses, some unpleasant thoughts come to the surface on his mind.

 _But he does spend a lot of time at Grillby’s, and not just for the food. There’s been times where Grillby has called me to pick him up, and Sans was well, not himself._ Papyrus’s heart sinks a bit. _No, he was definitely inebriated those times. But what makes him that way…There has to be something…stressful. Come to think of it, he has changed. He’s gotten more lazy and unmotivated. It’a kinda like…as if… he’s…_ Papyrus shakes his head. _No, I can’t think that of Sans. No, there must be something else. I’ll find out what it is, fix it, and Sans will be fine, if not even better than before! Nya ha ha ha!_

A little burst of energy surges through him as he is eager to help his brother get well.

But that energy soon fades.

 _But that means that my brother is having problems, and I have to find out what they are._ He sighs. _That’s easier said than done. Sans, after all, doesn’t like to tell anyone anything…Well, I’ll just have to keep up asking him until he tells me. After all, how am I supposed to help him if he doesn’t tell me what’s wrong with him?_

He continues to scroll down the page where the suggestions section was. It lists some options to help sufferers. It mentions to keep breakable and harmful objects away from them, having the sufferers get more sleep, establish a relaxation time before bed, address things that might make suffered anxious, and look to see if there’s a pattern between night terrors.

All this information helps Papyrus start to formulate a plan to help his brother. He smiles as he is able to finally relax for a little bit. Papyrus turns off his computer and lumbers over to his bed. He slinks in and pulls the covers over himself. Sleep comes fast.

A light beeping sound stirs Papyrus from his slumber. He gets up and turns off his alarm. He quietly gets dressed into his battle armor and heads out the of his room.

He creeps over to Sans’s room and quietly opens the door. Sans’s still asleep. Papyrus gently closes the door and goes downstairs.

 _Good, at least he’s been able to keep sleeping this whole time,_ Papyrus thinks, as he reaches the front door. _According to the websites, the terrors start early on in the sleep process so that means he shouldn’t have them for now. And that means I can still go on a quick morning patrol and not have to worry about him having any more._

He goes outside and steps into the brisk winter air. He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. He turns in the direction of San’s Sentry station that is positioned near The Ruins, and begins to jog toward it

With each stride, he releases more and more of the pent up nervous energy that is swirling around in his soul.

 _This is so good, so refreshing,_ Papyrus thinks, _I didn’t realize how much anxiety I had been storing up inside of myself until now._

He hurries over to the sentry station and then over to the different locations of his puzzles. No signs of disturbances or humans.

 _Well, at least no human has sneaked past me while I was away,_ Papyrus thinks.

He turns in the direction of his house, and anxiety starts to coil around his soul again.

 _I hope Sans is still alright,_ he thinks. _I know the website said that he shouldn’t have any more attacks in the later stages of his sleep, but still…_

With those worrying thoughts swirling within him, he hurries back. Back to home, and back to Sans.


	3. Trepidation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus tries to help out his brother and wants to know what is bothering him. Sans freaks out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These Dreams Chapter 2(Sans POV) has been edited and changed, so if you are noticing differences that is why.

* * *

 

Papyrus hurriedly enters his house, and silently rushes up the stairs. He creeps over to his brother’s room, and slowly opens the door.

Sans is still asleep.

Papyrus sighs with relief, and is about to close the door when he notices a big wad of sheets on the floor next to Sans’s bed.

He stares at it. It bothers him. In the mess that is Sans’s room, surely this wad of sheets must be the king of messiness, with the trash tornado being its queen.

He glances at Sans, and then over to the wad of sheets, and then back to Sans.

 _I can probably grab it without waking him,_ Papyrus thinks. _I can clean them for him, and then he can have clean sheets to sleep on. It’s always a wonderful thing to sleep on freshly clean sheets…and after a night like he had, he could definitely use something special…_

He quietly creeps into his brother’s room and grabs the big lump of sheets and sneaks back outside. Before closing the door, he peers at Sans once more.

_Still asleep. Good._

Papyrus goes downstairs and puts the sheets in the washer. As they are quietly cleaning, he goes into the living room.

I _should do something special for Sans for breakfast too,_ he thinks, walking over to one of the high kitchen cabinets and opens it. He removes a binder of papers. I know I put some new recipes in here. _There has to be something in here that will- Oh! This one looks good! Breakfast Spaghetti!_

He gets the ingredients out and starts making the recipe. After a while, Papyrus looks at the clock to make sure he’s not running behind schedule. It’s almost nine.

 _I know I usually wake Sans up at this time,_ he thinks, stirring the bowl, _but I think I’ll let him sleep in until breakfast is done._

A song starts to form in his head. He heard it at playing on the juke box at Grillby’s one night when he was called to pick up Sans.

Papyrus scurrying around the kitchen, grabbing some cheese, putting it in a pot, and stirring like crazy.

“Nyeh! Nyeh! Nyeh! Nyeh!” He unconsciously sings the song as he gets closer to finishing the meal.

Making this breakfast for his brother makes his heart feel lighter and happier.

He hears a sigh from the entrance of the kitchen. He looks out of the corner of his eye and sees his brother standing there.

_Sans!_

He’s happy to see that his brother woke up on his own. But that joy slowly starts to turn to concern as he gets a clearer look at his brother.

Sans looks fatigued. The dark circles under his half awake eyes seem a bit more pronounced, and even his smile looks a little tired.

Seeing his brother like this pains his heart. Papyrus fights back the urge to frown, and instead forces his face to smile more. His brother looks like he could use every ounce of his cheeriness today.

“Morning, brother!” Papyrus calls, turning his head to Sans. “I’m making breakfast, It’s about done! So take a seat and I’ll serve you a bowl!”

Sans sluggishly walks over to the dinner table and pulls out a chair. He plops down in it.  

“Spaghetti?” Sans asks.

“Not just any spaghetti,” Papyrus happily exclaims, “It’s Breakfast Spaghetti!!” He puts some of the concoction of spaghetti, meat, cheese, and eggs into two bowls and brings them over to the table. He sets one down for himself and one for Sans.

He sits down at the table and looks at the breakfast bowl. It looks really good. Nothing is burnt, the cheese looks evenly melted, and the kitchen didn’t even burn down!  

 _Did I do it right?_ Papyrus wonders, poking his meal with his fork. _Undyne usually says the noodles have to be extra crispy when spaghetti is all done, and these noodles are soft. But it’s a breakfast spaghetti, so maybe it’s alright after all for it turn out different than it normally does. I hope it came out alright  I hope Sans likes it. I hope it makes him feel a bit happier…_

He looks at Sans to see if he is enjoying it. But he hasn’t touched his either.

 _Did I make it wrong?_ Papyrus wonders. _Does it look bad? Does it smell bad?_ Papyrus sniffed it. _It smells ok_. Papyrus looks back at Sans. He can’t help but feel worry over how poorly Sans seems today. _I wonder if he’s ok…maybe he’s just overly tired from last night? If that’s the case, then maybe I should call Undyne and ask if he can have today off?_

He watches Sans for a bit. He sees Sans smile waver for a second. Sans looks at Papyrus for a bit, looks at the meal, and then back at Papyrus.

That just increases Papyrus’s misgivings.

_Is the meal that bad looking? Or is he not feeling well? Maybe he’s too tired? Is it from last night or something else? Maybe something is bothering him? Should I ask? **Don’t ask about last night -about the night terrors!**_

He glances back to his brother as if another looks will give him some more clues. But instead of that, he finds Sans looking at him.

 _That look…what is that look? It’s disconcerting…_ Papyrus turns his gaze back at his food and picks at it some more.

He glances back at Sans, and sees him eating it.

 _It must be ok then!_ Papyrus thinks, feeling a quick wave of relief. _I worked really hard on that meal for him…I’m glad it worked out._

He takes a bite of his food. It tastes good! Yet another success for Papyrus!

He looks over to his brother who is just sitting there, looking at his food.

 _He stopped eating? Why?_ Papyrus worries. _He never stopped eating anything I made before. Is he feeling sick? Or maybe…Yes! That must be it!_

Papyrus races into the kitchen and grabs a bottle of ketchup for his brother.  Returning to the table, he sits down.

Sans moves to get up.

"Where are you going?" asks Papyrus.

"To get some ketch-"

Papyrus grins. "No need! Nyha!" He places the bottle of ketchup on the table with gusto.

Sans stares at the ketchup bottle. "Bro..." he chuckles nervously, "where did you get the kethcup from?"

 _What does he mean?_ Papyrus wonders, feeling confused and a little concerned.

"From the kitchen.”

"Yeah, but when did you go get it?"

“Just a second ago. Didn’t you see me?”  Papyrus’s heart fills with worry.

 _Come to think of it,_ he thinks to himself, _he did have trouble seeing me last night… Maybe he’s still suffering from that?_

“No…” Now Sans sounds worried.

 _Oh, that is concerning,_ thinks Papyrus. _Oh, but don't let Sans see me worried! That would just make him worry about me worrying!_ Papyrus forces a smile on his face once again. _Have to hurry and come up with something so he doesn’t get worried about not seeing me get that bottle of ketchup!_

“Nya hahaha! Of course not! That is because, I, the Great Papyrus, have been working on my stealth skills. I have to be prepared just in case a human comes, after all.”

 _That isn’t a complete lie,_ He thinks, as guilt starts to gnaw on his heart, _I actually have been practicing my stealth, Though my main reason for it is so I can keep my attack bones from that annoying dog! But! It will come in handy against a human too!_

Sans smiles. “Good thinking, bro.”  He dumps ketchup on his breakfast and takes a bite.  “Good job on the breakfast, bro.”

“Thank you.”

They eat a while in silence.

 _I want to ask him if he’s ok…And I want to ask him about those dreams too…_ Papyrus thinks as he chews. _But the website says not to talk about Night Terrors to the victims…I don’t want to make things worse. But what if he’s not feeling well because of it? Maybe I can ask around the question?_

“Oh, uh, Sans…” Papyrus’s voice is quiet.

Sans looks up at his brother. “Yeah?”

Papyrus hesitates for a second. “How did you sleep last night?”

_There. That wasn’t about the night terrors. Just about how he slept. Surely, that will be ok._

Sans looks at him quizzically for a second before answering.

“Never slept _bed_ der, bro,” Sans jokes, looking at his brother from the side of his eyes.

 _Oh no. A pun. A pun._ Papyrus thinks. Part of him internally groans loudly at it. Another part of him, likes it. It means Sans must not be feeling too terrible if he made a pun. And there’s yet another part of him that likes it because well…maybe it is a little funny.

Papyrus gives a soft Nyeh of laughter.

 _Wait, no. Don’t encourage the puns! You’ll never hear the end of them!_ He instantly tries to straighten up his face and suppress his chuckling.

He looks at Sans to see if his brother noticed his chuckle.

He sees Sans looking at him with a raised smile on his face.

_Oh no._

“Bro…did you just laugh?”

“…Maybe…”

Sans’s smile widens a bit.

“…Well…it was a little funny…” Papyrus reluctantly admits.

Sans smile grows wider.

Papyrus is beaming on the inside. _Sans is smiling. Really smiling. I haven’t seen that kind of smile in a long time…Why is that…Why is it that something is bothering him…and why did it take me so long to figure it out? Why not before? Maybe I could have helped him earlier and prevented these night terrors…Maybe…maybe I should ask him about it now?_

Fidgeting, Papyrus looks at his brother with an anxious expression. “Sans?”

“Yeah?”

“I…um…”

“What’s up, bro?”

“Well, I was wanting…”

Sans nods, silently telling Papyrus that he has his whole attention.

_Say it!_

“…Wanting to ask you…if…um…”

“Yeah, go ahead, bro. Just ask,” Sans says calmly.

_Just say it!_

“If you…you… could hand me your dishes.”

_Noo… I couldn’t ask…_

“…What?”

“Yes! I want to get them clean before I leave on patrol today. It will never do to have dirty dishes laying about!”

 _Lies!_ He harshly reprimands himself. _Lying to Sans, oh how low I have sunk!_

“Sure, bro,” Sans hands them to him.

 _See!? And he even believes me!_  He takes the dishes from Sans, and goes into the kitchen. He glances at sadly Sans. When he sees Sans watching him, quickly averts his eyes from his brother. _I can’t look at him, now! I just lied to him!_ He walks over to the sink and turns it on. He puts dishes inside of it and starts to clean them. _I need to earn Sans trust so he can confide in me and tell me what’s wrong…but I’ll never earn it if I keep lying to him. And the longer it takes me to find out the longer he has to live this way, and the worse it could get…_

“Poor Sans…Oh brother…what is wrong with you…?”  He unconsciously mutters under his breath.

“Hey, Papyrus.”

Papyrus jerks back at the sound of Sans voice. He turns to see his brother standing near him, looking at him intently.

 _I wonder if everything is alright with him?_ Papyrus wonders. _He usually doesn’t hang around me when I’m doing the dishes…I wonder if…_

“Sans?” he asks. “Do you need something?”

“Uh, yeah, bro...” Sans says. “I want to know… Is everything ok? Are you feeling all right?”

Papyrus blinks at the question.

 _That doesn’t make any sense. If anyone needs something, it’s Sans- not him_.

“Y…yes. I’m fine, brother,” Papyrus says, still surprised by the question. “Why would you think that I’m not all right?”

“Well, you’re acting a bit off…” Sans starts to explain.

 _I’m acting odd?_ Papyrus thinks. _Sans is the one acting unusual. But…if he’s asking me…then I must be acting a little bit strange…But I’m fine! I’m not the one who needs help, Sans is!_

“…got this feeling you want to ask me something, but you haven’t yet for some reason. And I…I just want to make sure you’re ok, is all.”

Papyrus silently looks at his brother for a while with big shiny eyes. _He’s worried about me… In his state, he’s thinking about me._ He holds back tears he feels starting to well up in his eyes.  He blinks a few times, and his eyes return to normal.

“I’m fine, but…well, yes…there is something that I do want to ask you…” He admits.

Sans nods. “Ask away.”

Papyrus stops doing the dishes. He turns off the water and stands there a bit in silence.

His mind keeps going back to his smile. The one he had when Papyrus laughed at his joke.

 _Why doesn’t he have a real smile on his face more of the time?_ Papyrus wonders. _What is the underlying problem that causes him to worry so? The one that he tries to drink away, but it still chases him into his dreams…Poor Sans…I need to know what it is so I can help him._

“Ok, well...” Papyrus feels his anxiety ball up in him. He taps his gloves together nervously. “What I want to know is...if you are all right?”

Sans white pupils become so small that they are nearly engulfed by the darkness of his eye sockets.

“…What?”

 _I’m right, aren’t I?_ Papyrus thinks. _There is something wrong._

“That’s my question: Are you all right, Sans?”

“…Uh, yeah, bro, I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?” He takes in a deep breath and smiles nervously.

“Well, you’re….uh…” Papyrus looks around nervously. He doesn’t like making his brother so antsy, “not acting quite yourself.”

“Huh? What do you mean, bro?”

 _Is that panic in his voice?_ Papyrus wonders, feeling concerned. _Should I continue on or should I drop it…but if he needs me..if he needs help…then I need to press on, right?_

“Well, lately you’ve been slower getting around, and…you stay out late at Grillby’s and you…you…”

 _Oh this isn’t coming out right,_ Papyrus thinks, fretfully. 

“Sans?” Papyrus says quietly, as a feeling of trepidation starts to form in his soul.

Sans looks around nervously, as if he is trying to find a place to escape to.

 _Something is not right about that behavior…_ Papyrus thinks.

Sans face turns slightly back to normal. “Nothing’s brothering me at all,” he says, winking at Papyrus.

 _That…what was that?! His expression changed so quickly from worry to a nearly normal expression…_ Papyrus is slightly shaken by it all. I _f I had not been paying attention to him or if I even blinked, I would have missed it…It’s…It’s unnerving how fast he can hide his emotions… And the fact he’s hiding them from me, his own brother…_

He looks cooly at Sans. _If that’s how he’s going to be…then I need to be firm with him…but still in a gentle demeanor…Oh Sans…I wish I could do this in a way that was easy on both of us…_

“Sans, please…” Pain is evident in Papyrus voice. He looks at his brother with both sympathy and seriousness. “I’ve had to take you home from Grillby’s on several occasions because you’ve been…drinking too much. Grillby says that you’ve sounded very distressed about something, but you never actually clarified what it is…”

The look on Sans’s face makes Papyrus stop in mid-sentence and nearly causes his heart drop.

Sans’s eye sockets are completely black, and he is sweating a lot. His smile looks absolutely strained, so much so that it looks like it might shatter at any second.

“Uh, well, it’s getting a bit late,” Sans says.

The shock of those words sends chills to Papyrus’s bones. “What?”

There is something about it… something about those words that sends waves of foreboding into Papyrus’s soul.

“Yup, it’s late. Don’t want to be late for work, right?” Sans’s voice sounds strained. He chuckles nervously despite it. “See ya later, bro!” He turns and bolts for the door.

_No! This is definitely not right!_

“Sans, wait!” Papyrus calls out to him.

But Sans scurries out the door, and closes it fast behind him.

Papyrus runs over to the door and flings it wide open. He runs outside of the house, and looks all around it expecting to see Sans somewhere. 

But Sans is no where to be seen.


	4. No Response

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans runs away from Papyrus, and Papyrus is in a panic to find Sans.

Panic grips Papyrus’s heart, as he realizes Sans is no where to be seen. He desperately scans the snowy landscape for Sans. But he doesn’t see him anywhere. It was as if his brother just vanished into thin air.

B…but that’s not possible, right? Papyrus thinks.

He dashes outside and desperately combs the area for any of trace of Sans.  
He discovers some of Sans’s footprints in front of a grove of trees. He quickly follows them.

“Sans!” He calls, looking around for his brother. “Sans, please come back!”

No response.

With each passing moment of silence, Papyrus feels the dread in his heart grow more and more.

“Sans!” His voice is a bit more frantic now, and his pace quickens noticeably as he follows the Sans’s tracks around a corner of trees. 

But as he turns a corner into a clearing, he comes to a dead stop.

There are no more track, and there is no Sans.

It doesn’t make any sense. None at all.

Sans is gone. Just gone.

Papyrus mind reels. Feeling his legs grow weak, he staggers back against a tree for support.

Ok, think, think, Sans has to be somewhere, but where would he go. He mentioned work, so one of his posts maybe? Which one should I check first? He was in an awful panic so maybe the furthest one? To get further away from me?

To think that his brother wanted to as far away from him as possible. That thought alone makes Papyrus want to cry, but he holds back his tears.

No! Papyrus thinks, shaking his head to try to clear his mind of such thoughts. It wasn’t me that he fled! It was my question.

Papyrus thinks back to the discussion they just had, trying to find a clue within it.

“Are you all right, Sans?”

That started the panic, but it didn’t make him run away…what was it…

“I’ve had to take you home from Grillby’s on several occasions because you’ve been…drinking too much.”

That part had worried Sans, but still nothing more…

“Grillby says that you’ve sounded very distressed about something, but you never actually clarified what it is…”

Then the look in Sans eyes after that…

That was it! Papyrus realizes. That’s the part of the conversation that tipped everything!

Papyrus’s mind goes in circles over those parts of the conversation, trying desperately to understand what part of that question could have sent Sans into such hysteria. But his mind comes up with no possibilities.

I never suspected that whatever was troubling him was terrible that he would run away from me if I confronted him on it, Papyrus thinks.He shakes his head. No, no time to just stay here and think about it. I have to find Sans and make sure he’s ok. His reaction is not normal, not with the kind of alarm he showed. Something might be really wrong with him! I have to find him! I can think of what set him off as I try to find him!

Papyrus straightens up and looks around the forest once more, just in case he missed seeing any hints of Sans the last time he looked.

Upon still finding nothing, he sighs in sadness.

He’s not here. He ran off to some place else… How he could do it so fast I don’t know… He’s always been so lazy and slow before… Papyrus thinks. Well, if he’s running from my question the last place he would be would be the post here in Snowdin so I’ll check Waterfall next.

He turns and runs out of the forest, and heads toward his sentry station in Waterfall.

As he hurries along his way, Papyrus can’t help but think about about Sans and what is troubling him.

Whatever he is hiding from me is so bad that he felt he had to ran away from me so I wouldn’t find out about it..

Whatever the secret is, Sans feels that it’s too bad to just tell me, and so horrible that he had to run away from me so he could avoid talking about it…but what in the Underground could be do bad as to justify the fear that he has…? Unless…he is….No! No! I won’t let that happen to Sans! I won’t! Tears start to form in his eyes, and he wipes them away. Whatever is bothering him, I’ll help him through it! He will be fine!

Papyrus enters Waterfall, he rushes over to Sans’s sentry station and checks inside of it. But he only finds empty condiment bottles.

Papyrus sighs. Now I have to run all the way over to Hotland, I hope he’s there.  
He dashes along the path, and as he does so he hears someone speak to him.

“Howdy, friend.”

Papyrus briefly stops beside the small yellow flower that is speaking to him.

"Oh, Flowey,” Papyrus says. “I’m really sorry but I don’t have time to talk to you right now. I have to find Sans.”

Flowey frowns. “Aww, shucks, Papyrus. I’d thought you’d be happy to see me. Can’t you spare just some time for little ol’ me? You can see your brother anytime.”

Papyrus vigorously shakes his head. “That’s just it. I can’t. I’m…uh…” He hesitates for a second. “I had a feeling he wasn’t feeling well so I asked him about it and… He ran away from me and now I can’t find him anywhere! And I really do have to go find him, and make sure he’s ok! Have to search his other posts.”

“Oh my,” says Flowey, sounding concerned. “I’m really sorry to hear that, friend! Tell you what, I’ll keep an eye out for him around here in case he comes this way. And if he does, I’ll let you know!”

Papyrus smiles. “Thank you, Flowey! That means a lot to me. I’ll see you later!” He runs off.

As he hurried along, Papyrus feels a bit better.

With both of us looking, I’m sure we’ll find him! Papyrus thinks. I’m so lucky to have a friend like Flowey.

Papyrus quickly checks the telescope area that Sans sometimes works at, but it is empty too. He dashes along to Hotland. As he He steps on the bridge, he looks toward the sentry station. His heart sinks. He doesn’t see any sign of his brother.

Maybe he’s sleeping inside of it? Yes! He is always sleeping after all!

A sudden thought came to his mind. Sleeping a lot was one of the signs of…Oh, why hadn’t I noticed that sooner? I might’ve been able to help him more…

He reaches the sentry station. “Sans?” He calls as he leaps over to the front of the stand. He leans in and looks around. His brother isn’t there.

His heart trembles with sadness.

W…where could he be? Papyrus wonders. The MTT resort? No, he only works there every so often, and he told me he was cutting down his hours there…Wait, why would he do that? He- Papyrus shakes his head. I’ll think about that later. I have to check his post near that door. Oh why didn’t I check there sooner…

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Papyrus ran toward the docks so he could get a ride from the River Person. When he sees that they are there, he hurries over to them and gets them.

“Snowdin please,” he says.

When they arrive, Papyrus jumps out of the boat as they dock. He makes a mad dash toward Sans’s sentry station.

As he approaches it, his heart sinks for a moment. The outside of the stand is empty… but then he sees a big indent in the snow with tracks leading to the back of the stand.

Sans!

He hurries over to the stand, his heart awash with relief and nervousness.

What can he say to his brother? What should he say? It has to be something to that would keep him from leaving again…

Upon entering the back of the station, all those thoughts instantly vanish from Papyrus’s mind.

He feels like his heart is about to shatter from what he sees.

Sans is lying on the floor of the sentry station, lightly covered in snow.

“Sans!” Papyrus cries, running over to his brother.

But Sans doesn’t respond


	5. Dreariness

Papyrus stands at the entrance of the sentry station, staring at Sans’s still form lying on the floor. His mind blanks out on him for a few minutes as panic temporarily over takes him. After a few minutes pass, he breaks out of his stupor.

 

“Sans!” He cries rushing over to him. As he kneels beside him, fear gnaws at his soul.

 

He shakily reaches over to Sans’s shoulder but hesitates at the last second.

 

What if something happened that caused his health to drop so low that even the slightest tap turn him to dust? He shudders at the thought.

 

He draws his hand back and steadies his gaze upon his brother. As he focuses on him, magic wisps out of his one eye. He locates his brother’s soul and performs a check on his brother.  

**.9 HP**

 

Papyrus stares at the reading in confusion.

_But… that’s almost normal…why won’t he wake up then?_ He looks at Sans and decides to try again.

 

“Sans…?” He gently shakes his brother’s shoulder. “Sans?”

 

A soft moan escapes from Sans’s mouth and he stirs slightly.  His eyes flicker open.

 

“P…Papyrus…?”

 

“Sans!” Papyrus exclaims. “A…Are you ok?”

 

“Uh… yeah I think so…”  Sans groggily says.

 

As Sans moves to try to sit up, Papyrus stops him.

 

“B..bro..?”

 

“Don’t move just yet,” Papyrus says gently, “can you tell me what happened? How did you end up on the floor?”

 

“Uh…” Sans looks around nervously. “I…uh got sleepy and decided to take a nap.”

 

“But I called out to you and you didn’t move or say anything…”

 

“Heh…you know me…I’m a sound sleeper.”

 

“Not that soundly…” Papyrus grumbles as he stares at Sans for a few minutes. He waits to see is Sans will comment on what he just said, but he doesn’t. He just lies quietly.

_That’s not like Sans… He’s definitely not acting like himself,_  He thinks. _Does he really expect me to believe that? Especially since he is acting off on top of it all. Why doesn’t he tell me what’s going on? He..he can be so annoying sometimes. Holding everything in like that._

 

Papyrus takes a deep breath in and then lets it out.

 

“Are you in pain anywhere?”

 

Sans blinks. “Huh?…Oh…” He thinks for a moment. “Nope. I’m fine.”

 

“Sans…” Papyrus shoots Sans an annoyed look.

 

“Heh…I’m fine bro, really.” Sans grins at his brother.

_He’s lying. If he had lied down for a nap, he wouldn’t have had to stop and think about if he was hurt or not._ Papyrus mentally grumbles. _So something did happen, and he doesn’t want to tell me… How bad was it? I want to help him, but how can I if he doesn’t tell me if something is wrong?_  

 

“Are you sure you’re ok?”

 

“Yeah, bro, positive,” Sans said, “It was just a snooze. Do it all the time, you know that. In fact I’m so good at it, I can nap with my eyes closed.”

 

Papyrus holds back a chuckle. “What am I going to do with you?”

 

“Carry me home?” Sans offers.

 

Sighing, Papyrus shakes his head at his brother.  He gently picks up him up from off the floor and leaves the sentry station. As he walks out, he sees that the forest is starting to get gloomy.

 

“Hm…” Papyrus strokes his chin in thought. “Dark already. It looks like it’s the weather’s going to turn nasty. It’s a good thing I came along!  Or you might’ve gotten buried in the upcoming snowstorm.”

 

“Mmnn….I woulda been a skelsickle… not cool huh…heh.. Or would it be…?”

_That doesn’t sound right…_ Papyrus thinks worriedly.   _Maybe whatever caused him to ‘sleep’ in the sentry station is still affecting him?_

 

“Sans?” Papyrus glances over at his brother in concern.

 

Sans’s eye are closed and he mumbles something incoherently.

 

Papyrus gently lifts his brother and holds him in front of him. He cradles his brother as he runs a a check on him again.

 

_I’m sure it’s nothing,_ Papyrus tells himself, _he’s probably fine and just sleeping. And I’m worrying for noth-_  His thoughts are interrupted when he sees Sans’s HP.

 

**.07 HP**


	6. Growing Cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans isn't doing so well, and Papyrus rushes him home in hopes that he will recover.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ending of Chapter 6 has been changed to reveal something troubling about Sans.
> 
> If any of you want to drop in asks or something, feel free do so at my tumbr: http://ciara-clycone.tumblr.com

 

.7 H.P.  Never before had Papyrus thought that such a number would strike such worry into his soul. But it did.

 

 

 

_I don’t get it, he thinks, why… why is Sans’ H.P. still going down? I have him all bundled up and he’s safe with me… It should be stagnate… I just don’t-_

 

 

 

A cold gust of wind interrupts his thoughts, and sends chills into his bones. He shudders a bit, but the cold help break him from his stupor.

 

 

 

 _No time to wonder about that out here in the cold! That will only make Sans worse!_ He thinks, shaking his head.  _I have to get Sans home to safety! Then I’ll see if some fresh food and warm drinks will help his heath…_ He looks at his brother and sighs worriedly.

 

 

 

“Sans! Hang on! I’m gonna take you home! Just… Just hang on ok? You’ll be alright! I promise!” His voice nearly cracks as he talks. 

 

 

 

Despite him wanting to believe that everything will be ok, there is a dull nagging feeling gnawing away at his soul, telling him things.. Dark things. He shakes his head once more, trying to rid himself of from its, grasp and bounds off toward their home.

 

 

 

The air starts to turn colder. His breath floats around him in giant pillowy puffs. He glances down at Sans to make sure that he is still breathing, and he is. 

 

 

 

Though… his air puffs are much smaller than his brothers, and this worries Papyrus, and the worry pangs strike him anew. He grits his teeth and hurries even faster to their home. As he does, the snow starts to fall heavier, and in larger flakes. Some of them land in his eyes.

 

 

 

“Errgh!” He protests.

 

 

 

He blinks and shakes his head. He can’t let go of Sans to rub the snow out. So he just suffers through it and continues through his way, and then sees the signs that mention dog marriage.

 

 

 

_Oh! Maybe Dogamy and Dogaressa are at their stand!_

 

 

With newfound hope, he hurries in the direction of their station. On his way there, he encounters one of his puzzles laden in snow and blocking the path before him. 

 

 

 

He backs up a bit and then runs toward his special human capturing puzzle. He jumps into the air and leaps above it with ease. He dashes off, and treats the next puzzle in his path in a similar manner.

 

 

 

 _So glad I had that training with Undyne! Thanks to her vigorous training sessions, I was able to get us both safely past them!_  He thinks as he approaches the cross roads that lie before the dog duo’s station.

 

 

 

He stops and pauses in thought.

 

 

 

 _Would they be at their station or on their patrol path?_  He wonders.  _Station. Check their station first._

 

 

He hurries over to their station and sees that it is vacant save for a little note on their stand.

 

 

 

 

 

> Bad weather is coming soon. Going to do one last patrol and then we’re homeward bound.  
>  ~Dogamy and Dogaressa.
> 
>  

 

 

Papyrus perks up at this.  _Maybe they are still there!_

 

He dashes off, hoping to catch them before they leave. He makes a sharp turn at the cross roads, and sees their faint silloutes. While they are still far off, Papyrus can just barely hear them.

 

 

 

 

 

> “Well, no humans here honey. Ready to go home?” asks Dogamy.
> 
> “Yes! But do you think we should tell the other sentries?” Dogreessa whines. “I wouldn’t want them to get caught out in this bad weather.”
> 
> “No worries, my dear! I saw the last of the dogs head off toward town!”
> 
> “And what about Sans?”
> 
> “No need to worry about him. I doubt he’d be working in this storm. Gonna be a blizzard, and I’m sure he knows that and decided to head on home or to Grillby’s.”
> 
> “Yeah, you’re right. Let’s go home!”

 

 

 

“Wait!” Papyrus tries to call out to them, but a gust of wind howls at the exact same time as he cries out. It brings a sharp blast of icy windy into his mouth along with flakes of snow. It catches in the back of throat. He bends over a little and coughs several times. 

When the coughing fit is finally over, he looks up to see the Dog duo, but their silhouettes are no longer visible.

 

 

Despereate, he calls out to them. And he waits.

 

 

But there is no response back.

 

 

Papyrus sighs dejectedly.  _Well so much for anyone else’s help… I’ll just have to make it on my own from here._

 

 

He glances at Sans and does another check.

 

 

.6 HP.

 

 

Papyrus shudders, and this time it’s not from the cold.

 

 

“Don’t worry, brother. I won’t let you down. I’ll get you home safely.” He says softly. His voice strained with worry and sorrow.

 

 

 _No! No time for worry or tears! Sans needs you! And staying here feeling sad will help neither of us!_  He sniffles and blinks away his tears.  _Have to go! Now!_

 

 

With those words echoing in his mind, and Sans’ HP weighing down on his soul, Papyrus charges off toward Snowdin. 

 

 

The wind buffets Papyrus harshly, each gust feels like a stinging blow against bones. Eventually the stinging ebbs as the feeling in his arms and legs begin to go numb.

 

 

But he grits his teeth and carries on. He has to make it. For his brother’s sake and for his own.

 

 

It seems like the trek to town took forever, but in the end, he finally made it. Seeing the sign there on the town gave him a second burst of energy. He sprung off toward home, and soon was at their front door. 

 

 

He shuffles Sans in his arms and puts him against his chest and freeing up an arm. He opens the door, and steps inside. He gently puts Sans down on the couch, and closes the door. He quickly goes over to the fireplace and makes a fire for them both to warm up.

 

 

Then he plops down next to the sofa and rests for a moment.

 

 

“We made it.” He says to his brother. “See Sans, we made it. I told you we would. In a minute, I’ll make you something good to eat, and then you’ll be better. Everything will be fine now... It’ll be just fine..”

 

 

 

A soft groan from his brother catches his attention, and he turns to look at him to check on him.

 

 

 

"Hurts... stop... please..." Sweat drips down Sans forehead.  His arms weakly flail around, like he is trying to escape from something. 

 

 

 

"Oh no, he's having one of those terrors," Papyrus's words barely escape his mouth. He hurries over to Sans "What to do, what to do? Nyeh..." He wraps his arms around himself nervously. " Oh... Sans..."

 

 

 

Sans lets out a pained moan, and it sends shivers down Papyrus's spine. 

 

 

 

 _It sounds like he's really hurting, but... nothing is attacking him...? Still... I... I can't just not do anything! I'll... I'll run another check on him..._ Papyrus thought, as he started another check on Sans.  _I'm sure he's-_

 

 

 

Papyrus gasps and whimpers a little, as fear prevents him from finishing his thought.

 

 

The reading on Sans' HP are glitching. It first reads 6 then it flickers and distorts, and then reads 5 HP, and then it flickers again back to 6.

 

 

"Wh...what's going on?" Tears well up in Papyrus's eye sockets. "S...Sans... what's wrong with you?"


End file.
